Usual mistakes of a new motorcycle rider

Mistake 1: Forgetting to turn off their turn signal

Panic and almost die sliding through the turn, there must have been lots of sand in that corner!

Regain your composure and contemplate what a ninja you are having saved yourself from death.

Reach the next turn and realize your blinker is still on.

Hit the horn instead of the blinker, panic and stall the bike.

Mistake 2: Not Knowing How to Deal with a Low Speed

Low speed maneuvering is where most new riders are most likely to drop their bikes.

I ‘m sure you’ve seen it or done it, a new rider lets clutch out too quickly, bike jerks, goes chug/chug/chug, feet start pinwheeling, and over it goes. Practicing low speed stall and maneuvering through a stall should be one of the first skills learned, eventually you’re going to do it.

Go find an empty parking lot and practice figure eights until you are comfortable turning low speed and tight circles, this helps tremendously on the road, in parking, and turns in traffic.

Mistake 3: Riding Beyond Your Limit.

This is harder to define, you know it when shit happens and you aren’t ready for it, your reflexes panic instead of calmly operating your machine like a true ninja.

This could be simply taking a corner faster than you are prepared to lean and steer for. At worst you crash off the side of the road hopefully with minimal injuries. At best you pull through the turn, with panicked movements, somehow unscathed. It could be a panicked braking that locked the front high siding you onto the pavement. Maybe you squeezed and missed the brake in a panic and made it through the turn by full dumb luck.

The best possible solution to avoiding riding beyond your limit is to ride well within it. Of course for some that is too boring to stick to so I would say be sensible about it.

If you want to go ‘Street Rossi’ then at least don’t do it in rush hour. Get out on the long stretches of highway for that. Don’t cross into the oncoming lane and hit head on with a Porsche like Yammienoob. The hit could kill you and innocent and unsuspecting people, and your riding days may be done for good.

Mistake 4: Not buying frame sliders at least.

Most people drop their bikes at some point. It usually happens from a simple lapse in judgement when parking or maneuvering at very low speeds. It happens to people after 10 years of riding without a fall, and to people their first day fresh from the dealer with a new bike. When it happens the only thing that’s almost guaranteed to save your bike from any damage is a full crash cage. That is what I recommend and what I use.

For most people a full crash cage is too much in cost, at a cost at around $700 or they dislike their appearance. The next best thing is sliders. You can buy fork sliders, frame sliders, swingarm sliders and probably others. I’d recommend at a bare minimum getting frame sliders. These little things are gonna save your plastics, your gas tank and the frame in a low speed tip over or slide, as the name suggests.

Dropping the bike more than likely will result in far more damage if you neglect to put something between the road and your machine. I’ve actually had a bike totaled by insurance by a low speed tip over, frame sliders would have saved the bike entirely.

Mistake 5: Leaving your bike on to keep it cool

First off you’re inviting theft, second it will cool more if you turn it off. This is the same if it’s air cooled or liquid cooled. My 600rr runs around 200 degrees normally, here in Texas when it’s 95 outside the bike would be cooler just sitting under the sun and off than sitting running. I am not sure where this logic developed from, either way thinking something is cooler sitting at an internal temp of 200 instead of the ambient temp of 95 is just implementing flawed logic.